I know a lot of people want the Pens to sign ZP or RS but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the team to just re-sign Sullivan and go into the season with what they have now. Despite losing Jordan Staal, I don't think this team is going to be hurting for goal scoring,especially with the addition of Brandon Sutter who will probably get almost as many as Staal. The Penguins have already improved the backup goalie position as well as restocked the farm with young D and goalie prospects. Why not see how some of the young D look in training camp and then you can always make a trade or two during the season or at the deadline if need be? Just because the Pens have cap space doesn't mean they have to spend it all now.

As it stands right now, the Pens have exactly 40 players under contract. This includes prospects like Morrow, Harrington, and Uher who are all still under 20 (thus likely to remain in junior) and Kuhnhackl who could remain in junior as an over-ager. It also includes Patrick Killeen, who will remain in the ECHL behind Zatkoff and Thiessen. The breakdown:

23 Forwards12 Defensemen5 Goalies

There are still some holes that need to be filled before camp is even a consideration.

might as well spend a good chuck on the money, even if not on great players.... as long as theyre not multi year deals

if the Pens miss out on Parise and Suter, I'd probably bring back Sullivan on a 1 yr deal, and I would try to add a couple of veterans on 1 year deals, similar to what they did with Satan and Fedotenko

if they dont work out, theyre gone after the season anyway.... 2 guys making anywhere from $2-3 million on 1 yr deals wont hurt them in the long run... and maybe they get lucky and catch lightning in a bottle.... Satan and Fedotenko were pretty mediocre, but Feds at least had a pretty good postseason and Satan contributed to winning a Stanley Cup in a 4th line role.... I'll always remember his breakaway goal in game 1 vs Carolina coming out of the box and his fight with Patrick Eaves at the end of game 2

BUT

If the Penguins miss out on Parise/Suter, I dont expect Shero to take this route.... I think he'll be active in the trade market and look to make a move or 2

Important to note that even some of the "more key" depth guys (Tangradi, Bortuzzo, Sneep) are still unsigned. IIRC all 3 have been qualified, but they can turn down the offer... it's simply a necessity to protect their RFA status.

Psychlone wrote:I don't think this team is going to be hurting for goal scoring,especially with the addition of Brandon Sutter who will probably get almost as many as Staal.

staal will get between 30 and 40. sutter will get between 15 and 20. there's a giant gaping gap between our 3rd line last year and our 3rd line this year.

sure, sign sully and call it a day. i agree with that. but this team is worse than it was at the end of last year, despite not losing anyone that matters to free agency.

The gap is not nearly as large as you make it out to be. Staal's best year as a 3rd line center was 22 goals. In the seasons where he got 29 and 25 (in 62), he wasn't playing 3rd line minutes and his shooting pct was 22.1% and 16.8%. Those don't pass the eye test at all as Staal is nowhere in the company of players who can shoot at that rate over the course of a season. He had a lot of puck luck in those two seasons as his other seasons ranged from 6.6% to 13.1%. I'd be surprised if he ever scored 30 goals and shocked if he threatened 35. He will never, EVER see anything close to 40, ever. The dropoff between his 3rd line numbers and Sutter's will be a lot less than people expect.

Psychlone wrote:I don't think this team is going to be hurting for goal scoring,especially with the addition of Brandon Sutter who will probably get almost as many as Staal.

staal will get between 30 and 40. sutter will get between 15 and 20. there's a giant gaping gap between our 3rd line last year and our 3rd line this year.

sure, sign sully and call it a day. i agree with that. but this team is worse than it was at the end of last year, despite not losing anyone that matters to free agency.

The gap is not nearly as large as you make it out to be. Staal's best year as a 3rd line center was 22 goals. In the seasons where he got 29 and 25 (in 62), he wasn't playing 3rd line minutes and his shooting pct was 22.1% and 16.8%. Those don't pass the eye test at all as Staal is nowhere in the company of players who can shoot at that rate over the course of a season. He had a lot of puck luck in those two seasons as his other seasons ranged from 6.6% to 13.1%. I'd be surprised if he ever scored 30 goals and shocked if he threatened 35. He will never, EVER see anything close to 40, ever. The dropoff between his 3rd line numbers and Sutter's will be a lot less than people expect.

Come on now. Staal is a shoe-in for thirty goals. Forty goals? Ehhh, that's a stretch, but I think thirty goals should be expected. Yeah, he did got a lot of minutes on the Penguins, but he's going to put in more prominent roles in Carolina. He's probably going to see a lot more PP time and playing twenty minutes a game on third line vs. twenty minutes in a second line role is a much bigger difference.

Our fowards lets face it Duper, Cooke and Kunitz all had career years. Staal was on pace for a career season. led the league in goals for and only had Sid for a hand full of games. Neal come out of no where to get 40 . ALl great an nice to see the pens scoring almost 5 goals a game at the end of the season.

Look at the playoffs... look real hard. Do we need molre offence. We need a defence that can stop the likes of Jagr, Hartnell and Giroux. That comes with a team commitment to defence and a different kind of denfencman.

We don't need goal scoring, we need defence, that comes from our forwards and defencemen playing the right way.

If for some reason we go into camp with this cap space, it would most certainly send the wrong message to the team and the fans. I am not advocating Shero spend to just spend, but that Michalek move would certainly look suspect if nothing get's used in that space. Michalek was not our problem last year.

Hawkeynut wrote:If for some reason we go into camp with this cap space, it would most certainly send the wrong message to the team and the fans. I am not advocating Shero spend to just spend, but that Michalek move would certainly look suspect if nothing get's used in that space. Michalek was not our problem last year.

I agree with you considering he could have moved Michalek after securing either Parise or Suter. He could have gone 10% over the cap without any issue from the league.